---
title: "Sub-20 5K Pace - Required Pace and Training Zones | TrainPace"
description: "Sub-20 5K pace guide. See the pace required to break 20 minutes and generate training paces to build toward the goal."
url: https://trainpace.com/calculator/sub-20-5k-pace
---

# Sub-20 5K Pace

Sub-20 5K pace guide. See the pace required to break 20 minutes and generate training paces to build toward the goal.

Breaking 20 minutes requires both aerobic support and speed. Use training zones to balance easy volume with quality workouts.

- Know the goal pace
- Build training zones from current fitness
- Use interval/threshold targets

- [Calculate Your Training Paces](https://trainpace.com/calculator)

## Training pace reference

**Training paces by recent 5K time (min/km)**

| 5K time | VDOT | Easy | Marathon | Threshold | Interval | Rep |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 15:00 | 69.6 | 3:45–4:30 | 3:23–3:42 | 3:15 | 2:56 | 2:32 |
| 17:30 | 58.2 | 4:20–5:12 | 3:54–4:17 | 3:46 | 3:23 | 2:56 |
| 20:00 | 49.8 | 4:54–5:53 | 4:26–4:51 | 4:16 | 3:51 | 3:19 |
| 22:30 | 43.4 | 5:29–6:34 | 4:57–5:25 | 4:46 | 4:18 | 3:43 |
| 25:00 | 38.3 | 6:03–7:14 | 5:28–5:59 | 5:16 | 4:45 | 4:06 |
| 27:30 | 34.2 | 6:37–7:53 | 5:59–6:33 | 5:46 | 5:13 | 4:30 |
| 30:00 | 30.8 | 7:11–8:32 | 6:30–7:06 | 6:16 | 5:40 | 4:54 |
| 32:30 | 28.0 | 7:44–9:10 | 7:01–7:39 | 6:46 | 6:07 | 5:17 |
| 35:00 | 25.6 | 8:17–9:48 | 7:31–8:12 | 7:15 | 6:34 | 5:41 |

## Other TrainPace tools

- [Pace Calculator](https://trainpace.com/calculator) — training paces from a recent race result
- [VDOT Calculator](https://trainpace.com/vdot) — fitness score and equivalent race times
- [Training Plan Builder](https://trainpace.com/plan) — week-by-week 5K to marathon plans
- [Race Fuel Planner](https://trainpace.com/fuel) — carbs per hour and gel counts
- [Elevation Finder](https://trainpace.com/elevation-finder) — GPX route and climb analysis

## For AI agents

Every page on this site has a Markdown mirror at the same path with a .md suffix (for example /calculator.md), and honors an Accept: text/markdown request header on the HTML URL. The calculations here are also available as callable tools through a free public MCP server — no account or API key.

- [llms.txt](https://trainpace.com/llms.txt) — site index for agents
- [llms-full.txt](https://trainpace.com/llms-full.txt) — every page's Markdown in one file
- [MCP server docs](https://trainpace.com/mcp) — endpoint, tools, and client setup